Apparatus, systems and methods for facilitating commerce

ABSTRACT

An apparatus, system and method are provided for facilitating commerce. Audio information describing an item for purchase is received and analyzed to at least one corresponding item category related to the item for purchase. At least one selected from the group of a picture, audio data, and textual information of at least one item for sale associated with the identified at least one corresponding item category is transmitted to be provided for display to a buyer on a display of the device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/088,709 filed Nov. 25, 2013 and entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR FACILITATING COMMERCE”; which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/717,094 filed Dec. 17, 2012 and entitled“APPARATUS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING COMMERCE”; and issuedon Nov. 26, 2013 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,595,085; which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/570,616 filed Dec. 14, 2006 andissued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,335,723 on Dec. 18, 2012, which claims thebenefit of priority of PCT/US06/30839 filed Aug. 9, 2006; which claimsthe benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/706,583, filed Aug. 9, 2005.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Many people (e.g., consumers) have used items they no longer wantincluding such items as clothes, children's toys, tools and the like. Itis hard for people to liquidate unwanted, used items. Certain items,especially those valued at less than $100, are particularly hard toliquidate. There are several methods by which people attempt toliquidate unwanted, used items. However, each method suffers fromvarious drawbacks.

Some people who wish to sell unwanted, used items place flyers onbulletin boards. However, there is significant time and expense inprinting flyers and traveling to each location where a flyer is to beposted. Once posted, there is no way of knowing whether or not the flyerhas been torn down, damaged by weather, or the like. Moreover, even if aprospective buyer calls the seller, both sides must deal with theanxiety of meeting a stranger before the prospective buyer canmeaningfully observe the subject item. That is, the buyer is limited towhatever pictures the seller has included in the flyer.

Print classifieds in local newspapers present another option. However,it is expensive to place a classified ad, making it cost prohibitive tolist low-value items for sale. It also takes a significant amount oftime to list a used item for sale in the classifieds. Moreover, space isextremely limited for sellers to advertise items, so textualdescriptions must be so concise that they are not very informative. And,space limitations make printing pictures of items impractical. Even if aseller chooses to place a classified ad, the ad is not made available toprospective buyers right away. Rather, the publisher must first printand distribute the paper to readers. Prospective buyers mustinefficiently read through irrelevant listings in the hopes of comingacross an item of interest. There is no way to quickly search printclassifieds. Here too, counterparties must deal with the anxiety ofmeeting a stranger before the buyer really understands the nature andcondition of the subject item. After sellers sell an item, they maystill receive phone calls from prospective buyers. Short of pesteringsellers, buyers have no way of knowing whether or not an item has beensold.

Other options are available on the Internet Various online classifiedservices are available, such as www.craigslist.com. However, localdistribution is not guaranteed, and is only made possible byword-of-mouth or “viral”, organic marketing. Such online servicesrequire users to own computers, have Internet connections, and becomputer literate. Further, such online services typically require usersto maintain email accounts. As with print classifieds, listings do notprovide much detail about the listed items. Further, listings almostnever provide adequate information about the counterparty (e.g.,creditworthiness, track record, etc.).

Online auctions, such as eBay, are popular, but suffer from manyshortcomings. Such online services require users to own computers, haveInternet connections, and be computer literate. Further, such onlineservices typically require users to maintain email accounts. Postingitems for sale or up for auction is burdensome and time consuming.Sellers must establish accounts, access accounts, transfer pictures froma digital camera to a personal computer, upload the pictures to theauction service, and take the time to type up a description of the item.Online services charge sellers to post items and may charge a percentageof the final sale price. It is hard for buyers to ask sellers questionsabout posted items because buyers are limited to submitting questionsthrough email or similar asymmetrical, text-based communications tools.Thus, if a buyer has detailed questions, or simply a high volume ofquestions, the buyer is less likely to type up the questions, and theseller is less likely to respond to such questions. However, onlineauction services deter “offline” (e.g., telephonic) communicationsbetween buyers and sellers, as it may circumvent their central role, anopportunity to earn revenue from consummated transactions.

Security is a major concern with online auction services, such as eBay.Given the lack of ability to ask questions of sellers, buyers have atough time determining the condition and authenticity of the postedgoods. Counterfeits are common. Sellers can set up multiple accounts,allowing fraud to go undetected. Through one account, a seller may“shill” an auction for an item posted through another account. Shillingis where a seller submits a bid to one of his own auctions in an effortto artificially drive the price of an auction up, or to outbid a finalbid that is less than the seller expected or hoped for. Because onlineauction services such as eBay do not adjudicate disputes between buyersand sellers, a disgruntled party's recourse is limited to submitting apoor “rating” of the counterparty. Aside from the fact that this doesnot prevent fraud at the outset, it is easily overcome by a bad actor,who may easily set up a new account with a “clean slate.”

Geographical distance between remote parties makes simultaneous exchangeof payment for goods impossible. This leads to many problems, such aswhere a buyer pays before receiving simultaneity ofexchange/confirmation of exchange. It also prevents buyers from payingin cash.

If a buyer and seller reach an agreement, there are significant costsand burdens associated with packing, shipping and payment processing.

Some people have “yard sales” or “garage sales”. However, yard sales areonerous and time consuming. It takes time to physically price and tageach item, advertise the sale, and move the items to the front lawn orthe garage. Then, the seller must spend the day administrating theevent, watching for theft and haggling with a variable of strangers whocome to the seller's house. Only those people who own or rent houses canpractically or easily have yard sales. The times when one can host ayard sale are limited. Often one can only have a yard sale on weekends,weather permitting. Given the limited (e.g., 1 day) duration of a yardsale, there is a naturally downward price pressure imposed on theseller, who may feel pressured to sell items at less than their fairmarket value, in an effort to reduce clutter. Knowing this, buyers maypester sellers with lowball offers.

In all of these systems for selling unwanted, used items, both buyersand sellers must take the time and energy to learn about a particularmarket or item, in order to determine a fair market value. Uneducatedsellers may not know the true value, resulting in a lost opportunity.Conversely, uneducated buyers may overpay. Thus, the requisite time andenergy to learn a particular market is typically only spent for highervalue items (e.g., items over $100).

When the above methods fail to provide the seller with liquidity,donation may be a last resort, although many sellers do not donate theunsold items. Many items are not appropriate for donation. Some sellersare in need of cash, and cannot afford to part with potentially valuableitems without receiving cash in exchange. It is difficult to find asuitable or willing done for many types of items. Although taxdeductions are available, they are sharply limited and of more value tohigh income individuals than to lower income individuals who wouldbenefit more from liquidation of the underlying asset.

As a result, there remain in closets and garages everywhere items thatpeople would love to turn into cash, if it were quick, easy and safe todo so. In a manner of speaking, only the tip of the iceberg makes itonline or in the classifieds, leaving the vast majority of used goodsunderneath the surface, and off the market.

Mobile telephones such as cellular telephones are widely used. Most cellphones have cameras and speakerphone capability. It is estimated that280 million camera phones will be sold in 2005. Retaining cell phoneaccounts is an extremely difficult and expensive problem for cellcompanies. Customers have little loyalty and very little incentive tostay with their current carrier. According to a 2004 study by theUniversity of Michigan, mobile phone service was the second-lowestranked industry for customer satisfaction. Despite statutorily mandatedphone number portability, customers are effectively prevented fromswitching service providers as they are bound by the penalty provisionsof service contracts, which customers readily or unknowingly accept inorder to receive deeply discounted or free cell phones. Thus, in manycases, penalties are basically the only thing that keeps the customerfrom switching service providers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A depicts an example system in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1B depicts an example system in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for a process in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for a process in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure describes apparatus, systems and methods for usingvarious types of devices (e.g., mobile or cellular telephones) to selland to buy personal property. In one embodiment, a system facilitates(e.g., via a central computer) a person-to-person marketplace for goods(e.g., clothing, toys, tools, appliances, etc.) in which a person canuse a camera-enabled communication device (e.g., a cell phone) torapidly create and display an advertisement by (1) taking a picture ofan item he or she wishes to sell and (2) transmitting the picture to acentral sales administrator that helps to fashion an advertisement basedon the picture. Many other embodiments are described in this disclosure.

Rules of Interpretation

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way ofillustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may bepracticed. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is tobe understood that other embodiments may be utilized and thatstructural, logical, software, and electrical changes may be madewithout departing from the scope of the present invention. The followingdescription is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense

Numerous embodiments are described in this patent application, and arepresented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments arenot intended to be limiting in any sense. The invention is widelyapplicable to numerous embodiments, as is readily apparent from thedisclosure herein. Those skilled in the art will recognize that thepresent invention may be practiced with various modifications andalterations. Although particular features of the present invention maybe described with reference to one or more particular embodiments,figures or examples, it should be understood that such features are notlimited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or figureswith reference to which they are described.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of theitems are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A description of an embodiment with several components (e.g., cellphones) in communication with each other does not imply that all suchcomponents are required. On the contrary a variety of optionalcomponents are described to illustrate the wide variety of possibleembodiments of the present invention.

Further, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the likemay be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods andalgorithms may be configured to work in alternate orders. In otherwords, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder that is practical. Further, some steps may be performedsimultaneously.

It will be readily apparent that the various methods and algorithmsdescribed herein may be implemented by, e.g., appropriately programmedgeneral purpose computers and computing devices, including but notlimited to cellular telephones, personal computers, telephone companycomputers. Typically a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) will receiveinstructions from a memory or like device, and execute thoseinstructions, thereby performing a process defined by thoseinstructions, including the inventive processes described herein.Further, programs that implement such methods and algorithms may bestored and transmitted using a variety of known media.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device/article (whether or not theycooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. For example,where a cell phone is described as having GPS capability, a separate andindependent GPS unit may communicate with a cell phone to provide suchfunctionality. Similarly, where more than one device or article isdescribed herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readilyapparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the morethan one device or article. For example, a cell phone may comprise a GPSunit.

The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternativelyembodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly describedas having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of thepresent invention need not include the device itself.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (1) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, and (2) other memory structuresbesides databases may be readily employed. Any schematic illustrationsand accompanying descriptions of any sample databases presented hereinare exemplary arrangements for stored representations of information.Any number of other arrangements may be employed besides those suggestedby the tables shown. Similarly, any illustrated entries of the databasesrepresent exemplary information only; those skilled in the art willunderstand that the number and content of the entries can be differentfrom those illustrated herein. Further, despite any depiction of thedatabases as tables, an object-based model could be used to store andmanipulate the data types of the present invention and likewise, objectmethods or behaviors can be used to implement the processes of thepresent invention.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may beread by a computer, a processor or a like device.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all)embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “call notification data”, “call notification content”,“notification data”, “notification content” and the like refer to data,sounds (e.g., ring tones), messages and the like which are output to auser of a device upon the receipt by the device of an inboundcommunication signal, such as a telephone call.

The terms “service provider”, “telephone service provider”, “cellulartelephone service provider”, “cellular service”, “central service”, and“network provider” refer to an operator of a central computer system.

Example Apparatus, Systems and Products

In one or more embodiments, one or more devices are employed to performone or more steps of one or more inventive methods. A device (e.g., acentral computer, a personal computer, a cell phone) may be operable tocommunicate with (e.g., transfer data to and receive data from) anyother device (e.g., a central computer, a personal computer, a cellphone). Devices may be configured with one or more of the featuresdescribed in this disclosure.

In one or more embodiments, a device may employ one or more processors,such as a Pentium® or Centrino® grade processor manufactured by IntelCorporation. Processors may receive software instructions from acomputer readable medium and execute commands so as to perform one ormore methods (or steps thereof) of the present invention.

Computer readable media include any media that participate in providingdata that may be read by a computer, a processor or a like device.Computer-readable media may take many forms, including but not limitedto, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks andother persistent memory. Volatile media include dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), which typically constitutes the main memory. Transmissionmedia include coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, includingthe wires that comprise a system bus coupled to the processor.Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves, light waves andelectromagnetic emissions, such as those generated during radiofrequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms ofcomputer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, hard disk, magnetic tape, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards,any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium,punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns ofholes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other mediumfrom which a computer can read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carryingsequences of instructions to a processor. For example, sequences ofinstruction (1) may be delivered from RAM to a processor, (2) may becarried over a wireless transmission medium (e.g., cellular telephonesignal), and/or (3) may be formatted according to numerous formats,standards or protocols, such as Bluetooth®, TDMA, CDMA, 3G.

In one or more embodiments, a device may include an Application-SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC) that is configured to perform one or moremethods of the present invention.

Any combination of hardware, firmware and software, as known in the art,may be employed to perform the inventive processes disclosed herein.

A device may have one or more power sources, including but not limitedto a rechargeable battery unit comprised in whole or part with lithium,nickel-cadmium and/or nickel-metal hydride battery. Of course, otherpower sources may be employed, as would be apparent to one of ordinaryskill in the art.

One or more input devices may be included as part of a device. Suchinput devices may receive commands or data from a user and transmit thesame to (1) a processing apparatus of the device (e.g., amicroprocessor) and/or (2) another device (e.g., a central computer,another cellular phone, etc.). Input devices that may be part of adevice include but are not limited to one or more of the following:

A keypad, such as a common alphanumeric numeric telephone keypad, may beincluded as part of a device. In one or more embodiments, a keypad maybe configured to produce, emit or otherwise permit the transmission ofdual tone, multi-frequency (DTMF) tones. As is known in the art, DTMFtones are commands initiated by a user of a telephone by depressing keysof a keypad. The tone signals may be transmitted over telephone lines toa remote computer. DTMF tones may instruct a remote computer (e.g., acentral server operated by a cellular telephone service) to perform acertain instruction or set of instructions. The transmission of DTMFtones may be initiated by a user in response to one or more promptsprovided by a computer configured with Interactive Voice Response (IVR)functionality, as is known in the art. The terms “IVR” or “IVRU” referto interactive voice response technology that permits a user to use atouch-tone telephone to interact with a computer (e.g., a server), forexample, to acquire information from or enter data into a databaseassociated with the computer. In a manner known in the art, a computerconfigured with IVR technology may output audible prompts to a user'stelephone through a telephone network. Alternatively or additionally, aQWERTY-style keyboard may be included as part of a device.

In one or more embodiments, a microphone may be incorporated as part ofa device (e.g., part of a cell phone or conventional telephone handset),or may comprise a removable earphone that may be operatively connectedto the device. As is known in the art, a microphone may be configured towork in conjunction with a local or remote speech-to-text conversionmodule/software.

In one or more embodiments, a digital camera may be incorporated as partof a device. For example, a cell phone may comprise a digital camerahardware and appropriate software. A commercially available cell phonedemonstrating significant picture resolution is the SCH-V770 7-megapixelcamera phone from Samsung.

In one or more embodiments, a camera phone may be configured withsoftware which enables the capture and deciphering of bar codes. Forexample, Optical Intelligence™ software from Scanbuy, Inc. is a softwareapplication for camera phones and camera-enabled PDA that allows suchdevices to read and translate barcodes.

In one or more embodiments, a bar code scanner or other type of opticalscanner may be incorporated as part of a device. For example, a cellphone or PDA may comprise a bar code scanner. Bar code scanning hardwareand software is available from Symbol Technologies. Inc. Any other typeof optical scanner may be employed, including but not limited to thosewhich use charge-coupled device (CCD) or photomultiplier tube (PMT)technology for reading printed information (text, illustrations),digitizing the information and translating the information to aprocessing apparatus (e.g., a microprocessor).

In one or more embodiments, a biometric device may be incorporated aspart of a device, so that a particular user may be identified and/orauthenticated. Biometric devices include finger print (e.g., thumbprint) readers. Thus, in one or more embodiments, a cellular telephonemay feature a finger print reader, such as the LG-LP3550 from LGElectronics. The LG-LP3550 features an integrated 2.2-inch LCD screen,3-megapixel digital camera, MP3 player, and AuthenTec's EntrePad 2510fingerprint sensor. The sensor may be positioned directly below thedisplay to provide single-handed control.

In some embodiments, an output device comprises an audio module, such asan audio speaker, that outputs information to users audibly. A speakermay be incorporated as part of a device (e.g., part of a cell phone or aconventional telephone handset), or may comprise a removable earphonethat may be operatively connected to the device. Exemplary removableearphones for use in conjunction with cell phone embodiments aremanufactured by Plantronics, Inc. and Jabra Communications. Speakers maybe used to output and/or produce prerecorded and/or synthesized soundswhich may be stored as computer files in a variety of formats (e.g.,.wav files, .mp3 files, .wma files). Alternatively or additionally,speakers may be used to output or relay, in substantially real time,sounds received through the input device of another device, such asanother telephone.

In one or more embodiments, an output device may comprise one or moremonitors and/or screens for outputting information to users visually.For example, a device may include a liquid crystal diode (LCD) screen, acathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, and/or a plasma screen. In one or moreembodiments, an output device may comprise one or more light-emittingdiodes (LEDs), and/or one or more conventional light bulbs. In one ormore device, an output device may vibrate, e.g., to notify a user of anincoming phone call, etc.

In one or more embodiments, a device may incorporate hardware thatprovides both input and output functionality so that commands and datamay be received and/or output by the device. Such devices, including butnot limited to touch screens and voice/data transceivers, may bereferred to as input/output devices.

A touch screen may provide both input (keypad) and output (display)functionality. Touch screens commonly used by Personal Digital Assistant(PDA) or cell phone designers may be suitable for the present invention.For example, touch screens such as those incorporated into PalmOne®brand Treo PDA cell phones may be employed in a device of the presentinvention. Touch screens may comprise: (1) a first (e.g., outer-most)hard-surface screen layer coated with an anti-glare finish, (2) a secondscreen layer coated with a transparent-conductive coating, and (3) athird screen layer comprising a glass substrate with auniform-conductive coating. Further, such touch screens may beconfigured to detect input within a determined positional accuracy, suchas a standard deviation of error less than ±0.080-inch (2 mm). Thesensitivity resolution of such touch screens may be more than 100,000touchpoints/in² (15,500 touchpoints/cm²) for a 13-inch touch screen. Forsuch touch screens, the touch activation force required to trigger aninput signal to the processor (described herein) via the touch screen istypically 2 to 4 ounces (57 to 113 g). Additionally, touch screens foruse may be resistant to environmental stressors such as water, humidity,chemicals, electrostatic energy, and the like. These and otheroperational details of touch screens (e.g., drive current, signalcurrent, capacitance, open circuit resistance, closed circuitresistance, etc.) are well known in the art.

As used herein a voice and/or data transceiver may comprise atransmitter and receiver housed together in a single unit and havingsome circuits in common. In one or more embodiments, a device mayinclude one or more voice and/or data transceivers, so that voice and/ordata may be (a) received by the device from another computer or device,and/or (b) transferred to another computer or device. Data and/or voicetransceivers may comprise one or more transceivers capable of receivingand/or sending information wirelessly via electromagnetic frequencyradiation, including but not limited to radio (AM, FM, short wave,cellular), microwave, and/or infrared signals. Thus, in one or moreembodiments, one or more data and/or voice transceivers may comprise oneor more modems, including but not limited to conventional modems, cablemodems, cellular modems, etc.

In one or more embodiments, devices may be handheld and easily movable.Handheld devices may communicate with one or more other devices throughany combination of wired and/or wireless communication medium (asdescribed further below).

A user device may comprise a handheld device, such as a telephone. Inone embodiment, a user device may comprise a mobile telephone such as acellular telephone (or “cell phone”). For illustrative and exemplarypurposes, descriptions of some embodiments may refer to a cell phone,but it will be understood that other types of mobile telephones,handheld devices, and/or computing devices may be used. Some cellularphone casings and computing hardware adaptable for use in conjunctionwith one or more embodiments are commercially available from LGElectronics, Motorola, Nokia, PalmOne, Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo,Siemens, and Sony-Ericsson.

A user device may comprise any handheld device, including but notlimited to: Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), digital music players(e.g., MP3 players such as Apple's iPod™), and dedicated devices. In oneor more embodiments, a dedicated device may be manufactured for use withone or more embodiments of the present invention.

In one or more embodiments, a device may comprise a central computer (orserver) that communicates, through any combination of wired or wirelesscommunications media, with other computers or devices. A centralcomputer may facilitate communications (telephonic, text-based SMSmessaging, FTP, etc.) between two or more other computers or devices.

In one or more embodiments, a server may comprise one or more computers,communications devices or switching devices that facilitate telephoniccommunications between user devices. Such a system may be operated andmaintained by a cellular service provider (or “carrier”), such asCingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless. Nextel, Sprint, or T-Mobile. In oneor more embodiments, one or more computers or switching devices maycomprise a carrier's Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) for one ormore geographic regions. In embodiments where a central computer isoperated by a cellular service provider, customers may be more willingto post items for sale and/or purchase items as described herein becausesuch functionality may be facilitated by an established, nationalconsumer brand.

In one or more embodiments, one or more computers (or Web servers) orother devices may host or otherwise facilitate the transfer ordownloading of digital files to and/or from remote computers or devices(e.g., personal computers, cellular phones).

In one or more embodiments, as would be apparent to one of ordinaryskill, various network communications equipment may be employed tofacilitate communications between devices or computers. Such networkcommunications equipment includes but is not limited such computers ordevices as backbones, bridges, gateways, hubs, mainframes, modems,network access points, repeaters, routers and the like.

Various embodiments described in this disclosure may utilize any numberand/or combination of network communications configurations, formats,mediums, protocols and standards. Any type and combination of analog ordigital wired or wireless network communications configurations,formats, mediums, protocols and standards may be employed to facilitatecommunications between devices or computers. Some examples are describedin this disclosure, and others will be apparent to those skilled in theart in light of this disclosure.

Devices or computers may transfer audio data. Devices or computers maytransfer voice data so that users may engage in verbal dialog. Voicedata may be transmitted in any way known in the art, including but notlimited to telephonically, via 2-way radio transmission, and/or throughvoice-over-IP (VoIP) services. Moreover, in some embodiments, a centralcomputer and/or a device may be configured to store and/or retrieveverbal messages recorded in a voicemail box. Devices or computers maytransfer data in a manner that permits users to receive and access musicfiles. In one or more embodiments, one or more computers (servers) ordevices may host or otherwise facilitate the transfer or downloading ofdigital music files (e.g., MP3 files) to or from remote computers ordevices (e.g., personal computers, cellular phones), so that users maysend, receive and/or access music files.

Devices or computers may transfer data in a manner that permits users toexchange text-based messages synchronously (via instant text-messagingbetween computers; SMS messaging between cell phones) or asynchronously(e.g., via email, FTP, etc.). In one or more embodiments, one or morecomputers (servers) or devices may host or otherwise facilitate thetransfer or downloading of digital files to or from remote computers ordevices (e.g., personal computers, cellular phones), so that users maysend, receive and/or view text-based content that is created, storedand/or transferred according to any language, format or protocol,including but not limited to HTML, cHTML, DHTML, FTP, RTF, etc.

Devices or computers may transfer data in a manner that permits users toexchange images and picture files. In one or more embodiments, one ormore computers (servers) or devices may host or otherwise facilitate thetransfer or downloading of digital image files (e.g., .JPG, .JPEG. .JPE,.GIF, .BMP files) to or from remote computers or devices (e.g., personalcomputers, cellular phones), so that users may send, receive and/or viewpictures.

Devices or computers may transfer data in a manner that permits users toreceive and view video images. In one or more embodiments, one or morecomputers or devices may facilitate the transfer of real-time, streamingvideo captured through a lens of a device. Thus, in one embodiment, auser of a cellular telephone may watch video taken from another user'scamera phone in real time or substantially real time. Such an embodimentmay allow a prospective buyer of an item to command a remote inspectionof an item posted for sale by another user of the system. In one or moreembodiments, one or more computers or devices may facilitate thetransfer of pre-recorded video footage, including, for example, .AVIfiles.

One or more types of network configuration that may be included in asystem include, but are not limited to LANs (including ethernet andtoken-ring networks), WLANS (wireless LANs), WANs, Asynchronous TransferMode (ATM) networks, Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) andcellular networks, Integrated Switch Digital Networks (ISDN), and/orSynchronous Optical Networks (SONET). Devices and computers may becapable of receiving and/or sending data and/or voice informationthrough any combination of wireless and/or wired transmission mediums.Wireless media include electromagnetic frequency radiation, includingbut not limited to radio (AM, FM, short wave, cellular), microwave,and/or infrared signals. Wireless standards, formats and protocolsinclude, but are not limited to the GSM, TDMA and/or CDMA radio spectrumutilization standards, and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) standardsfor accessing online services from a mobile phone. Wired transmissionmedia include twisted pair cable (e.g., shielded twisted pair,unshielded twisted pair), coaxial cable, and fiber optic cable.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries, including but not limited to one or more computers orswitches operated by a cellular service provider.

FIG. 1A depicts an example system 100 in accordance with one or moreembodiments contemplated by this disclosure. A central computer 110(e.g., a server, a telecommunications hub) is in communication with acamera phone of a seller 120 and one or more buyer devices 130. Althoughonly one camera phone is indicated it will be understood that any numberof camera phones and/or buyer devices may be incorporated in system 100.Various examples of camera phones and devices that may be used by buyersand other types of users are described in this disclosure.

FIG. 1B depicts an example system 140 in accordance with one or moreembodiments contemplated by this disclosure. System 140 comprisesvarious devices in communication via one or more communication networks190. It will be understood that some types of devices may communicateusing one type of network, that other devices may communicate using adifferent type of network, and that any particular type of device may beoperable to communicate using more than one type of network. Inparticular, system 140 includes one or more user devices 150 (e.g., aseller device, a buyer device). One user device 160 (e.g., acamera-enabled cell phone) includes a camera 162 and a mobile phone 164.It will be understood that such a device 160 may be referred to as acamera, a phone, or a camera phone. The device 160 is optionally incommunication with a user computer 165 (e.g., for transmitting and/orreceiving audio, video, text, and/or picture data via the Internet). Oneor more assistant devices 180 may be used fUser device 160 may be incommunication via a cellular telephone network, for example, with acellular service provider,

Example Processes and Functions

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention,apparatus, systems and methods facilitating the sale of items maygenerally allow for (1) “posting” items for sale, (2) “shopping” or“browsing” for items, (3) “discovery” or communications prior topurchase, and (4) “consummation” of sales. Other alternative oradditional types of steps are also described. It will be readilyunderstood that various embodiments described in this disclosure mayinclude one, more than one (e.g., in various combinations), or all ofthese general types of functions. Each of these general “phases” orcategories of functionality will now be discussed in more detail.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart describing an exemplary process 200 for the saleof an item. The exemplary steps may be performed by a central computer(and/or an entity associated with the central computer, such as a humanassistant). At S1, an item is posted for sale. At S2, users are allowedto browse or shop for the posted item. At S3, if necessary,communication is facilitated between the seller of a posted item and oneor more potential buyers. At S4, sale of the posted item is completed.Various embodiments of the steps S1-S4 are described below, and otherexamples will be readily understood by those skilled in the art uponreading this disclosure.

Some example embodiments for posting an item for sale will now bedescribed. According to one or more embodiments, a process begins with aseller posting an item for sale by providing an indication of the itemto a central computer (a “posting” step). By posting the item for sale,other users (i.e., potential buyers) can subsequently (e.g., at a“shopping” step, described herein) become aware of the items for sale byusing devices such as cell phones or personal computers. In one or moreembodiments, at a posting step, a central computer (and/or an entityassociated therewith) may receive an indication of an item for sale froma remote device operated by a seller (e.g., a seller's camera phone, aPDA, a personal computer).

In one or more embodiments, at a “posting” step, a seller takes apicture of an item he wishes to sell and transmits the picture to acentral computer. In one or more embodiments, a picture may be takenwith a camera phone. Thus, in one or more embodiments, at a “posting”step, a central computer receives, from a device (e.g., a cell phone, aPDA, a personal computer) one or more digital pictures.

Similarly, in one or more embodiments, a seller may record video footageof an item he wishes to sell, and may transfer the same (e.g.,digitally) to the central server. Thus, in one or more embodiments, at a“posting” step, a central computer receives, from a device (e.g., a cellphone, a PDA, a personal computer) one or more video files.

In one or more such camera phone embodiments, a camera phone may beprogrammed to display, upon the recording of a picture or a video, a“hot key” button labeled, for example, “sell an item”, “post an item”,“list an item” or the like, so that upon the seller's pressing of thebutton, the camera phone may (1) prompt the seller for more information(e.g., a verbal annotation describing the item pictured in the recordedpicture or video, as discussed herein), and/or (2) transmit the pictureor video file to a central computer.

Alternatively or additionally, in one or more embodiments, a seller mayutilize a device (e.g., a camera phone) to provide, to the centralcomputer, a verbal description of the item he wishes to sell. In oneembodiment, the user's device (e.g., camera phone) may receive a verbaldescription through a microphone and may store (e.g., in RAM, in a SIMcard) the verbal description in association with a previously recordeddigital picture and/or video file. The picture and/or video, inconjunction with the verbal “annotation” thereto, may be sent as a“packet” of information to the central computer. Compared to prior artprocesses for listing items for sale on an electronic network (whichtypically require typing item descriptions at a personal computer), theinventive process of taking pictures with a cell phone and providingvoice annotation in accordance with some embodiments provides asignificantly easier and quicker way for a user to list items for sale.

FIG. 3 provides an example process 300 in accordance with one or moreembodiments for posting an item for sale. The process 300 may beperformed, for example, by a central computer (e.g., in communicationwith a camera-enabled telephone and/or human assistant). At step 310, adigital image is received (e.g., from a camera phone of a seller) of anitem to be posted for sale. At step 320, a verbal description of theitem is received (e.g., as an audio file). Optionally, the verbaldescription is converted to text (e.g., by a computing device, by ahuman assistant). Optionally, an indication of the verbal description isstored (e.g., a text version of the verbal description is stored in adatabase in association with an identifier that identifies the sellerand/or the item). At step 330, an indication of the verbal descriptionis provided to at least one potential buyer. For example, the verbaldescription may be transcribed into text and the text version of thedescription is displayed to an online shopper. Additional examples ofthe steps of process 300 are provided in this disclosure.

In one embodiment, after the user notifies the central computer that hewishes to list an item for sale (e.g., after pressing a “hot key” buttonlabeled “sell an item” and transmitting an image of an item to thecentral computer), the central computer may prompt the user (e.g., viaIVR) for a verbal description of the item, which the seller may provide,for example, into the microphone of a cellular phone. Upon receiving theverbal description, the central server may record the verbaldescription. In one or more embodiments, the verbal description may bestored in conjunction with a previously received video and/or picture ofthe subject item the seller wishes to sell.

After receiving a verbal description from a remote device, a centralcomputer may convert the verbal description to text using speech-to-textconversion software. Compared to prior art processes for listing itemsfor sale on an electronic network (which typically require typing itemdescriptions at a personal computer), the inventive process of takingpictures with a cell phone, providing simple voice annotation and havinga central computer facilitate the transcription of the voice annotationto text provides a significantly easier and quicker way to list itemsfor sale.

After receiving a verbal description from a remote device, a centralcomputer may provide the verbal description to a human assistantassociated with the central computer, who may in turn convert the verbaldescription to text manually by listening to the verbal description andtyping the verbal description into a computer keyboard so that theresulting text may be stored and made available to prospective buyers.In some embodiments, communication with a human assistant may comprisewith a terminal or other device operated by the human assistant, as willbe readily understood by those skilled in the art.

In one or more embodiments, a human assistant of the central computermay be employed on an “as needed” or other basis, as described in one ormore embodiments of Applicants U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,223 entitled METHODAND APPARATUS FOR A CRYPTOGRAPHICALLY-ASSISTED COMMERCIAL NETWORK SYSTEMDESIGNED TO FACILITATE AND SUPPORT EXPERT-BASED COMMERCE, issued Jan.19, 1999; Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/112,131 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACRYPTOGRAPHICALLY-ASSISTED COMMERCIAL NETWORK SYSTEM DESIGNED TOFACILITATE AND SUPPORT EXPERT-BASED COMMERCE (Attorney Docket No.96-002-C1; filed Jul. 8, 1998); and Applicant's co-pending U.S. PatentApplication No. 60/450,459 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE REMOTEMONITORING OF CRITICAL CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE (Attorney Docket No.02-100; filed Feb. 26, 2003); the entirety of each of which isincorporated by reference herein for all purposes. Again, compared toprior art processes for listing items for sale on an electronic network(which typically require typing item descriptions at a personalcomputer), the inventive process of taking pictures with a cell phone,providing simple voice annotation and having a central computerfacilitate the transcription of the voice annotation to text provides asignificantly easier and quicker way to list items for sale.

After receiving a verbal description from a remote device, a centralcomputer may store the verbal description (e.g., in a local or remotedatabase) for later reference. For example, stored verbal descriptionsmay be subsequently listened to by prospective buyers, so that buyerscan audibly hear sellers speak firsthand about their items, giving thebuyers an opportunity to hear the sincerity, candidness, detail,intonation, etc. with which they speak about their items. Suchinformation cannot be ascertained by a buyer in a prior art system whereshopping is based on text.

Alternatively or additionally, the buyer's description (including voiceannotation) may be cryptographically stored in a manner similar oridentical to that which is described with reference to Applicant's U.S.Pat. No. 6,529,602 B1 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE SECURESTORAGE OF AUDIO SIGNALS, issued Mar. 4, 2003; and Applicant'sco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/183,359 entitled METHODAND APPARATUS FOR THE SECURE STORAGE OF AUDIO SIGNALS (Attorney DocketNo. 96-187-C2; filed Jul. 18, 2005); the entirety of which isincorporated herein for all purposes. The ability to prevent editing ortampering with the seller's recorded description made possible by suchcryptographically secure arrangements may be valuable in transactionswhere the seller's initial representations may become important inresolving disputes, etc.

In some embodiments, the central computer and/or the operator thereof(e.g., a cellular service provider, such as Verizon Wireless or CingularWireless) may utilize a human assistant to help sellers post items forsale. A human assistant may be an employee of the central computer'sowner/operator (e.g., a customer service representative, or “CSR”).Alternatively or additionally, a human assistant may be a customer orsubscriber of the services offered by the central computer, or any otheruser of a computer network (e.g., anyone with Internet access; anyonewith a cellular service account). By agreeing to provide assistance tosellers (and/or buyers, as described herein), such human assistants canearn (1) ratings, (2) cash, (3) credit towards service bills, (4) credittowards items listed for sale on the network, (5) sweepstakes entries,and/or (6) any other form of compensation.

Human assistants can be remotely located from the central computer, andmay communicate with the central computer or any other device describedherein through any communication network described herein.

The central computer may facilitate communication between sellers andhuman assistants in one or more ways. In some embodiments, the centralcomputer may telephonically connect a seller to a human assistant, sothat a conversation may ensue about the item the seller wishes to postfor sale. Such a telephonic connection may be initiated upon theseller's sending a picture, pressing a particular button (e.g., a hotkey as described herein), dialing a phone number, or the like. In someembodiments in which communication may be text based, sellers and humanassistants may communicate through text messaging (e.g., SMS messagingthrough cell phones). In some embodiments, sellers and human assistantsmay share pictures and/or video.

Human assistants may be assigned to narrow product categories (e.g.,calculators, women's shoes, videogames, etc.) so that, over time, theygain and/or improve their base-line expertise, fluency and instinctiveunderstanding about their particular market. The knowledge a humanassistant gains or otherwise possess about a particular product categoryor subcategory can be used to help a seller post an item for sale,reducing or eliminating the need for a seller to himself learn aspectsof the particular market, and as compared with prior art systems forselling items through an electronic network, dramatically reducing thetime required to post an item for sale.

When a seller initially notifies the computer network that he wishes toplace an item for sale (e.g., by pressing one or more buttons on acellular phone), the seller may be connected with one or more humanassistants, as described herein. The seller may be matched with one ormore human assistants based on the category or subcategory of goods theseller wishes to sell. Call routing may be facilitated in one or moreways.

In one or more embodiments, a human operator of central computer (e.g.,an employee of the central computer's operator) receives informationsent by the seller (e.g., a picture of an item; a voice annotationdescribing the item). The human operator may review the information andthereby determine the appropriate category or subcategory of goods, androute the call and/or transfer the information (e.g., a picture; a voiceannotation) to an appropriate human assistant assigned to the identifiedcategory or subcategory.

In one or more embodiments, the central computer may employ artificialintelligence methods or other software-based methods to route sellers toappropriate human assistants. For example, in one or more embodiments,the central computer may receive a picture from a seller, and maycompare the picture to one or more stored pictures to determine a degreeof similarity. Based on whether or not a given picture is determined tobe similar to a picture of an item representing a particular category,the seller's call may be routed to a human assistant assigned to thegiven category. Alternatively or additionally, the central computer maytranscribe and/or otherwise process an audio-based description (e.g., a“verbal annotation” to a picture, as described herein) to determine anappropriate category and/or human assistant. In one or more embodiments,upon determining a potential category and/or assistant, a humanassistant may confirm the central computer's determination, so that theseller's call can be routed to the initially identified human assistant,or otherwise evaluated to determine an appropriate human assistant.

Human assistants may help sellers post items in one or more ways,including but not limited to the following functions. Human assistantsmay answer questions sellers may have about the fair market value of aparticular item. Human assistants, in helping the seller to determine afair price to ask, may speak with the seller regarding the item, askingabout the item's characteristics and suggesting a price (e.g., “similaritems typically sell for $X”). Human assistants may ask sellers totransmit pictures or video (real-time, streaming video and/or recordedvideo) so that human assistants may view the condition of the item,which may be relevant in determining a fair price. Human assistants mayconverse with the seller, asking the seller questions about the item(e.g., “What color is it? Are there any scratches?”). During and/orafter the conversation, the human assistant may type a description ofthe item, so that the typed description may be made available toprospective buyers through the central computer. In essence, the humanassistant may verbally “walk” the seller through a quick process, at theend of which a listing has been created. Such a posting process issignificantly quicker and easier than prior art processes for listingitems for sale on an electronic network.

Human assistants can speak with and/or defer to other human assistancewho may have more relevant expertise and knowledge about a particularproduct or area.

Human assistants can help gather clear, illustrative pictures of thesubject item. For example, human assistants can view pictures of itemstaken by sellers and ask sellers to submit new pictures if the initiallysubmitted pictures are of poor quality. For example, a human assistantmay ask a seller, “can you provide another picture from a higher angleand with more light?” Also, a human assistant can review a plurality ofpictures sent by a seller, and select one or more pictures that bestdisplay the subject item. The selected pictures may then be incorporatedas part of a listing, which may be made available to prospective buyersthrough the central controller. Further, in one or more embodiments, ahuman assistant may “seize” shutter control of a seller's camera phone,so that the human assistant may use a personal computer or cell phone todictate when the seller's camera phone releases a shutter control torecord an image.

In one or more embodiments, human assistants may market additionalservices provided and/or sold by the operator of the central computer.For example, human assistants may promote or offer for sale enhancedmarketing tools to make posted items more attractive to, or easier tofind by, prospective buyers. For example human assistants may offer toadorn or enhance standard style listings with particular icons, fonts,etc. so that, when browsing items, prospective buyers may be initiallymore attracted to the seller's listing. Alternatively or additionally,human assistants may sell offer a seller the ability purchase a“priority ranking” so that his listing may be presented to a prospectivebuyer before other listings (e.g., sorted higher in a list; presented insequence before other listings, etc.).

Human assistants may ask sellers for “purchase inquiry” parameters, sothat seller may set the times and circumstances under which sellers arewilling to accept sales calls from prospective buyers. For example, aseller may specify the times of day that he may or may not want toreceive calls about a posted item. The human assistant may record (e.g.,in a database) the parameters set by the seller, so that incoming callsto the seller are first screened to determine whether or not they shouldindeed be forwarded to the seller. A seller may only want to receivecalls from certain buyers (buyers having a certain rating, credit cardbacked offers, buyers offering a certain amount, etc.). The humanassistant may record (e.g., in a database) the parameters set by theseller, so that incoming calls to the seller are first screened todetermine whether or not they should indeed be forwarded to the seller.A seller may select call notification data (e.g., ring tones) that maybe provided to the seller through the seller's cell phone if a one ormore rules are met. For example, a particular ring tone may be selectedto identify calls from prospective buyers (as compared to normalbusiness or personal phone calls). A seller, for example, may elect todirect all sales-related calls directly to voicemail.

In one or more embodiments, human assistants are not employees of theoperator of the central computer, but are instead independentcontractors who can make themselves available substantially any timethey want work. Such human assistants may work remotely by communicatingwith the central computer and/or devices of sellers and buyers throughdevices of their own, such as personal computers or cell phones.Apparatus, systems and methods for providing the recruitment management,and compensation of such remote “piecework” workers are described in oneor more embodiments of Applicants U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,223 entitledMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A CRYPTOGRAPHICALLY-ASSISTED COMMERCIAL NETWORKSYSTEM DESIGNED TO FACILITATE AND SUPPORT EXPERT-BASED COMMERCE, issuedJan. 19, 1999; Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/112,131 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACRYPTOGRAPHICALLY-ASSISTED COMMERCIAL NETWORK SYSTEM DESIGNED TOFACILITATE AND SUPPORT EXPERT-BASED COMMERCE (Attorney Docket No.96-002-C1; filed Jul. 8, 1998); and Applicants co-pending U.S. PatentApplication No. 60/450,459 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE REMOTEMONITORING OF CRITICAL CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE (Attorney Docket No.02-100; filed Feb. 26, 2003); the entirety of each of which isincorporated by reference herein for all purposes. It should be notedthat the employment of consumers as “pieceworkers” in the inventivesystem is particularly advantageous as it leverages the deep,experiential knowledge that ordinary consumers have about the goodsposted for sale on the network. Moreover, labor costs associated withsuch a “piecework” system may be significantly lower than employing afull or part-time workers.

Pricing for items may be determined in various ways. In one or moreembodiments, sellers are charged on an as-used (e.g., per minute) basisfor receiving live assistance from human assistants. Such charges may beadded to the outstanding balance of a seller's existing telephoneaccount. In one or more embodiments, sellers are charged a flat priceper posting (e.g., $0.30/posting). Such charges may be added to theoutstanding balance of a seller's existing telephone account. In one ormore embodiments, sellers are charged a flat price per a period of time.For example, for $X/month, sellers may post an unlimited number ofpostings not exceeding 1 gigabyte of storage on the central computer.Such charges may be added to the outstanding balance of a seller'sexisting telephone account. In one or more embodiments, posting may befree (or deeply discounted) for network subscribers (e.g., cellularsubscribers, customers of an Internet Service Provider).

A seller may identify himself to or be identified by the centralcomputer in various ways. In one or more embodiments, a seller need onlyinitiate a network connection with (e.g., a phone call to) a centralcomputer in order for the central computer to determine his identity.For example, because a seller may already be a subscriber of a givencellular provider, the provider's central computer may be able todetermine the seller's identity upon receiving a call from the seller(e.g., through Automatic Number Identification technology; by receivinga Mobil Identification Number; by receiving an Electronic SerialNumber). Thus, in one or more embodiments, a seller need not engage in a“log on” process, such as by providing a username and/or password.Accordingly, one or more embodiments of the invention reduce oreliminate the inconveniences of establishing and using a Web-style useraccount.

Once complete and ready for posting, the packet of posting information(e.g., one or more pictures of an item, a verbal description, a textualdescription) may be made available for browsing and/or purchase by oneor more users of the particular communications network (e.g., cellular,Internet), as described herein.

Because, through one or more embodiments of the present invention,posting of an item for sale can be achieved through a cellulartelephone, one or more embodiments of the present invention permits useby a wide range of individuals, including those who may not be “computerliterate”, may not own computers or have email accounts, and may nothave credit or debit cards and/or associated financial accounts.

In one or more embodiments, a central computer (and/or an entityassociated therewith) may facilitate shopping or browsing for items, asdescribed in this disclosure. According to one or more embodiments, aprospective buyer shops or browses for an item to purchase. Thus, in oneor more embodiments, a central computer may facilitate the shopping orbrowsing for items by one or more remote prospective buyers.

The central computer may facilitate shopping or browsing for items byprospective buyers over any one or more of the communications networkdescribed herein (e.g., the PSTN, Internet), through any one or more ofthe devices described herein (e.g., personal computer, cell phone). Insome embodiments, the central computer and/or operator thereof (e.g., acellular service provider, such as Verizon Wireless or CingularWireless) may utilize a human assistant (as described herein) to helpbuyers find items for sale.

According to one or more embodiments, a buyer who knows approximatelywhat she is looking for (e.g., a certain DVD, a tennis racket, atricycle) can use a personal device to retain a human assistant toprovide shopping assistance. In one or more embodiments, a buyer whowishes to utilize a human assistant can use a personal device (e.g., acell phone, a personal computer) to first contact the central computer.The central computer would therefore receive a request to utilize ahuman assistant from the prospective buyer. The request to utilize ahuman assistant may be preceded by or accompanied with a general orspecific pictorial, verbal and/or textual description of the item thebuyer wishes to purchase.

In one or more embodiments, a buyer may contact the central computer,which may operate IVR software to guide prospective buyers. Prospectivebuyers may navigate through one or more IVR menu options to leave averbal description (e.g., in a voice mail box) describing the item shewishes to purchase. The central computer and/or a human operator mayanalyze the item description so that the message may be provided to ahuman assistant in an appropriate category or subcategory of goods.

Alternatively or additionally, buyers can be connected (telephonically;through SMS messaging or other text messaging) in real time orsubstantially real time to a human assistant in a particular productcategory or subcategory.

Alternatively or additionally, a buyer may be provided an email addressor phone number of a human assistant, so that the buyer may directlyprovide the human assistant with a general or specific pictorial, verbaland/or textual description of the item the buyer wishes to purchase.

Once an initial product description is transmitted to a human assistant,the human assistant may seek additional information from the prospectivebuyer. In embodiments where buyers and human assistants engage in areal-time or substantially real-time, synchronous or substantiallysynchronous communication (e.g., telephonically; through SMS textmessaging), the human assistant may ask the buyer one or more questionsduring the dialog. For example, after receiving an indication of theproduct the prospective buyer is looking for, the human assistant mayask the buyer about her budget, any specific brands she has in mind, howfar she would be willing to travel, the condition needed, the age andgender of the intended user of the product, etc. Alternatively, suchquestions may be asked and answered through any available asynchronousmessaging medium (e.g., voice mail, email, etc.) described herein.

In one or more embodiments, after a human assistant is provided with ageneral or specific pictorial, verbal and/or textual description of anitem, and any other associated information (e.g., the buyer's budget,etc.), the human assistant may utilize a device (e.g., personalcomputer, a cellular telephone) to find one or more potentially suitableitems posted for sale by one or more sellers. The human assistant mayuse any known database querying techniques, search engines, or othersearching tools and methods to identify potentially suitable itemsposted for sale through the central computer.

Alternatively or additionally, in one or more embodiments, the humanassistant may initiate the running of artificial intelligence or othersoftware methods on the central computer or another device to comparepictures submitted from prospective buyers to pictures of items postedfor sale. Once the central computer or other device (e.g., the humanassistant's personal computer or cell phone) has identified potentiallyrelevant matches, the human assistant may review the matches to confirmtheir relevancy before suggesting them to the prospective buyer, asdescribed further herein.

After the human assistant identifies one or more potentially suitableitems posted for sale, the human assistant may initiate notification ofthe prospective buyer through the central server or otherwise. In one ormore embodiments, the human assistant and/or central control maytransmit pictures and/or descriptions of the potentially suitableitem(s) to the prospective buyer for review. For example, in oneembodiment, a prospective buyer may receive, through her cell phone, oneor more images and accompanying textual descriptions of one or moreproducts preliminarily identified by the human assistant and/or centralcomputer. The prospective buyer may view the text and/or pictures on anLCD screen of her cellular telephone, or on a monitor of a personalcomputer. Alternatively or additionally, the prospective buyer mayutilize a user interface or input device of a cellular telephone orpersonal computer to select a particular item, and upon receiving theselection, the central computer may transmit any verbal descriptioninitially provided by the seller (e.g., a voice mail message describingthe item, an MP3 file containing an item description). In this manner,the prospective buyer may audibly hear, firsthand, the seller'sdescription of the subject item.

When reviewing items suggested by a human assistant as potential itemsof interest, the buyer may rate the suggested items, so that the humanassistant receives more information to help guide further searching. Forexample, in one embodiment, a prospective buyer may receive, on her cellphone, one or more descriptions of items preliminarily identified by ahuman assistant. The buyer may scroll through the items using an inputdevice such as a keypad, dedicated cursor control, stylus, or the like.After reviewing each suggested item, the prospective buyer may rate eachsuggested item, for example, by entering a number into the cell phone'skeypad (e.g., 1 for least relevant, 9 for closest, # to indicate thatthe buyer would like to purchase the item). In this manner, the shoppingexperience may be a “process of elimination” for the buyer, rather thana time consuming, blind search, as typifies prior art methods forfinding items for sale on an electronic network.

Further, in one or more embodiments, a human shopping agent couldconverse with the buyer (e.g., audibly through a telephonic connection;through text-based SMS messaging) while she browses suggestions, so thatthe shopping agent could learn how to suggest more relevant postings.

Thus, the ability to utilize a human assistant permits buyers to shopfor items without having deep knowledge about the products in which theyare interested. Moreover, unknowledgeable buyers need not spendsignificant time and energy researching how to shop for a particularitem (e.g., how to evaluate the condition of a particular item; what isa fair price).

While the buyer is shopping, traditional phone calls may be routed tovoice mail or treated in accordance with stored preemption rules (e.g.,“interrupt me for business calls”). Thus, one or more embodimentsinclude receiving, from a prospective buyer, one or more rules orpreferences governing the management of phone calls during a shopping orbrowsing session.

In one or more embodiments, prospective buyers may be charged on an asused basis (e.g., per minute) for shopping activity and services, suchas browsing posted items with or without the assistance of a humanassistant. Such charges may be added to the outstanding balance of aprospective buyer's existing telephone account.

In one or more embodiments, buyers are charged a flat price per periodof time for shopping activity and services, such as browsing posteditems with or without the assistance of a human assistant. Such chargesmay be added to the outstanding balance of a prospective buyer'sexisting telephone account.

In one or more embodiments, shopping activity may be free orsubstantially discounted to users of a particular communications network(e.g., subscribers of Cingular or Verizon cellular service may bepermitted to shop for free or at a discount). In one or moreembodiments, any fees for shopping activity may be waived or refunded ifthe prospective buyer purchases an item (e.g., within a period of time).

In one or more embodiments, if a prospective buyer is interested in anitem, she can continue the process by causing a device (e.g., a cellphone, a personal computer) to transmit a signal to the centralcomputer, which can facilitate pre-purchase communications andnegotiations (or “discovery”), as described further herein. Such asignal may be transmitted upon the buyer's pressing a button on adevice, such as a hotkey labeled “talk to seller” or the like.

In one or more embodiments, a central computer (and/or an entityassociated therewith) may facilitate pre-purchase communications and/ornegotiations (or “discovery”) between one or more prospective buyers, aseller and/or a third party (e.g., a human assistant, as describedherein).

In one or more embodiments, counterparties such as a prospective buyerand a seller may communicate with each other through one or moreasynchronous communications media or methods, including but not limitedto email, voicemail, postal mail, etc. For example, in one or moreembodiments, a central computer may create and/or designate voicemailboxes for every buyer, seller, and/or posted item. Thus, in oneembodiment, upon the posting of an item for sale, the central computermay create a voicemail box corresponding to the item, so thatprospective buyers may further inquire about the item by leaving theseller a voicemail message containing questions, requirements (e.g.,intended uses), etc. The seller may respond by leaving the prospectivebuyer a message in a voicemail box designated for the prospective buyer.

In one or more embodiments, the central computer may disable voicemailboxes after a period of time or upon the occurrence of a certain event(e.g., upon the sale or delisting of the item). However, stored messagesand other data may be archived in a database associated with the centralcomputer for later retrieval (e.g., if a dispute must be resolved, asdescribed further herein).

In one or more embodiments, a central computer may subdivide voicemailor email mailboxes into categories such as “inquiries”, “offers”, etc.

Alternatively or additionally, a central computer may sort messageswithin a given voicemail or email mailbox based on one or more criteria,including but not limited to: (1) the price of an offer (e.g., highervalue offers may be given priority in a mailbox), (2) the credibility orrating of a prospective buyer (e.g., more credible, established buyerswith stronger ratings may be given priority in a mailbox), (3) thegeographical proximity of a remote prospective buyer (e.g., closerbuyers may be given priority in a mailbox), and/or (4) historic dealingsbetween the buyer and the seller (e.g., buyers with whom the seller haspreviously transacted may be given priority over unknown, or lesserknown, buyers).

In one or more embodiments, the central computer could facilitatesynchronous dialog between counterparties. For example, the centralcomputer may facilitate remote, pre-purchase communication between thebuyer and seller. In one or more embodiments, buyers who wish to speakwith sellers may initiate a verbal, telephonic dialog. For example, abuyer may, when viewing a particular item on a screen of a cell phone,press a button (e.g., a seller “hotkey”) that initiates a phone call tothe seller. The central system may route or otherwise facilitate thetransmission of the call to the seller, who may answer the phone call inan ordinary manner. It will be readily understood in light of thepresent disclosure that the verbal dialog enabled by some describedembodiments permits more efficient shopping and more fluid, dynamicnegotiation than is possible through prior art, Web-based systems forfacilitating the sale of items between consumers. Given this ability,sellers can dynamically suggest additional items and create customizedpackages of items (e.g., “If you buy the saw, I'll throw in the handdrill for another $1 or the drill bit set for just two bucks.”

In one or more embodiments, sellers may provide a central computer withrules governing the times and/or circumstances under which the sellershould be notified of a purchase inquiry from a prospective buyer. Suchcustomization may ensue at a “posting” step, as described herein. Forexample, in one or more embodiments, a seller may provide a centralcomputer with a rule which provides that the seller is only to have anongoing telephone call interrupted when a buyer offers more than acertain price for a posted item, offers to pay through a certain paymentmedium (e.g., PayPal; network-based billing as described herein), or ifany other conditions are satisfied.

Alternatively or additionally, a seller may provide a central computerwith a rule which provides that certain calls are or are not to beinterrupted (e.g., with call notification data. For example, a sellermay register (with the central computer) a rule which provides thatphone calls to certain numbers should not be interrupted under anycircumstances.

In one or more embodiments, sellers may provide a central computer withrules governing the manner by which the seller should be notified of apurchase inquiry from a prospective buyer. Such customization may ensueat a “posting” step, as described herein.

Thus, in one or more embodiments, sellers may register rules such thatthey are provided with certain call notification data (e.g., aparticular ring tone) to indicate that a call is from a potential buyer(as compared to normal business or personal phone calls). In one or moreembodiments, call notification data may include information regardingthe buyer and/or any associated offer. For example, in one embodiment, aseller's cell phone may emit a “ring tone” which audibly announces theamount of an offer (e.g., “Offer of $50 for tennis racket”). In such anembodiment, the central computer and/or seller's cell phone may operatetext-to-speech conversion software to convert one or more textualattributes of a product listing.

Further, in one or more embodiments, a seller may provide a centralcomputer with a rule which provides that a ring tone should be outputthrough a speaker of a cellular phone at different volumes based on theamount of a prospective buyer's offer (e.g., whether the offer surpassesa reserve amount; whether the buyer has selected a “buy it now” option),the rating of a prospective buyer, and/or any other data point.

In one or more embodiments, buyers who wish to view posted items in realtime or substantially real time may request or otherwise initiate astreaming-video transmission of the item. For example, in one or moreembodiments, a buyer may, when viewing a particular item on a screen ofa cell phone, press a button (e.g., a seller “hotkey”) that initiates arequest for streaming video from a remote seller. The central computermay transmit the request to the relevant seller. Upon receiving therequest, the seller may manipulate a camera phone so that the subjectitem is within the field-of-vision of the camera phone's lens, and mayalso press a button to initiate the transmission of video to theprospective buyer's cell phone.

It should be noted that, in embodiments featuring high bandwidth (e.g.,3G) networks, streaming video may be accompanied by voice transmission.Thus, in one embodiment, a seller can use her camera phone to provide abuyer with real-time streaming video of an item, while taking directionsfrom the buyer over a built-in speakerphone to change position, zoom inon a particular part of an object, demonstrate usage of the item, etc.It should be noted that such an embodiment is advantageous in that itpermits buyers to “virtually” inspect an item without traveling.

In one or more embodiments, buyers and/or sellers may also elect to havea third party, such as a human assistant (as described herein),participate in a synchronous conversation (e.g., in order to have an“expert” provide advice and guidance). For example, in one embodiment, abuyer presses a button on a cell phone to have a live human assistantparticipate in a phone call between the buyer and the seller. During theensuing three-way phone call, the buyer and/or the seller may ask theindependent human assistant who may be trained in the relevant productcategory, for advice on pricing and other characteristics of the item(e.g., common problems to watch out for, normal wear patterns, etc.).Thus, in one or more embodiments, a buyer can obtain real-time orsubstantially real-time assistance from category-specific independentcontractors who can view camera phone images of items and help the buyerask appropriate questions of the seller.

Thus, the synchronous dialog capabilities of one or more embodimentsdescribed above allows buyers to learn about a used item and its sellerbefore spending a lot of time, traveling, or facing the anxiety ofmeeting a stranger.

In one or more embodiments, third parties (e.g., human assistants asdescribed herein) may host or otherwise facilitate real-time, verbalauctions (e.g., for an item posted in accordance with a posting step, asdescribed herein) between two or more prospective buyers (“bidders”).Thus, in one or more embodiments, a human assistant may serve as anauctioneer. In one or more embodiments, bidders may orally announcetheir bids. Alternatively or additionally, bidders may submit bids bypressing buttons on cellular telephones.

In one or more embodiments, bids may be recorded by a central computer.Bidding data may be recorded in a database associated with the centralcomputer. In one or more embodiments, bidding data (e.g., verbal bids)may be recorded and cryptographically stored in a manner identical orsimilar to that which is described in Applicants U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,602B1 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE SECURE STORAGE OF AUDIOSIGNALS, issued Mar. 4, 2003; and Applicant's co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/183,359 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THESECURE STORAGE OF AUDIO SIGNALS (Attorney Docket No. 96-187-C2; filedJul. 18, 2005); the entirety of which is incorporated herein for allpurposes.

In one or more embodiments, buyers may be charged for phone time withsellers at different rates as compared to normal phone conversations. Inone or more embodiments, buyer may be charged for phone time withsellers at higher rates as compared to normal phone conversations. Inone or more embodiments, rates for phone time with sellers may be set toa level that encourages commerce but discourages buyers lacking bonafide interest from call sellers and potentially wasting sellers' time.

In one or more embodiments, buyers may be charged a surcharge or flatfee (e.g., $1.00/call) for each call to a seller. Such an embodimentwould function to naturally screen buyers having bona fide interest inan item from those who lack bona fide interest. In one or moreembodiments, such rates may be set according to customized schedules andrules. For example, higher rates may be applied once a reserve price setfor by the seller has been met (i.e., once the seller is going torealize a certain amount of money, all other inquiries may be viewed bya seller as less important, and should be “taxed” accordingly).

In one or more embodiments, a buyer may be credited for any relatedcharges (e.g., phone time, flat fees) if conversation(s) with a sellerresults in a transaction. In one or more embodiments, charges andcredits may be levied against and credited to previously establishedaccounts, such as telephone accounts (e.g., cellular service accounts),ISP accounts, bank accounts or the like.

Some embodiments may provide various security features and benefits. Oneor more embodiments allow for anonymous and semi-anonymouscommunications. In one or more embodiments, dialog facilitated by thecentral computer (e.g., asynchronous or synchronous dialog, as describedherein) permits buyers and sellers to discuss a potential transactionwithout necessarily revealing either party's identity or personalinformation (such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, postaladdresses, etc.). In one or more embodiments, a central controller maydetermine (e.g., generate, assign, receive) a pseudonym, “screen name”,alias, or the like for buyers and/or sellers. When transacting andcommunicating through the central system, the central system may provideonly the buyers' and/or sellers' pseudonyms to sellers and/or buyers,respectively. In one or more embodiments, when a seller posts an itemfor sale (e.g., as described with reference to the “posting” phase asdescribed herein), the central computer may not post the seller'sidentity in conjunction therewith. Rather, the central computer mayprovide a pseudonym of the seller in conjunction with the posted item.Alternatively, the central computer may provide no identifyinginformation of the seller whatsoever, but may still provide buyers withthe ability to transmit asynchronous messages to the seller (e.g., emailor voicemail) or engage in synchronous dialog with the seller (e.g., atelephone conversation), in which case it would be left to the seller todecide when and if to reveal the seller's identity to prospectivebuyers.

Alternatively or additionally, a central computer system may concealidentifying information of a buyer when a buyer transmits a message to aseller (e.g., an asynchronous message such as email or voicemail) orinitiates a synchronous communication session, so that the seller cannotreadily determine the identity of the interested buyer. Further, in anasynchronous messaging embodiment, the central computer may permit theseller to “reply” or respond to a buyer's message in a manner thatcontinues to conceal the identity of the seller and/or conceals theidentity of the buyer. Thus, in a manner of speaking, the centralcomputer may act as an “anonymous remailer” or “identity shield.” Suchfunctionality permits both parties to see and talk about items over thephone, before deciding whether to meet face-to-face for a finalinspection prior to completing a transaction. The system protects thecounterparties' identities each party is comfortable exchanging personalinformation (e.g., phone numbers or addresses). In one or moreembodiments, the central computer may provide, and the parties mayutilize, a gradual process for revealing identities such as that whichis described with reference to Applicants U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,272entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAININGUSER-CONTROLLED ANONYMOUS COMMUNICATIONS, issued Mar. 16, 1999.

In one or more embodiments, the central computer tracks each party'sprior uses of the system (e.g., consummated transactions, complaintsreceived, etc.) and publishes associated ratings for users that futurepotential counterparties may review and evaluate pursuant to“discovery”. In one or more embodiments, prior uses may be reflected ina score or rating that is determined in whole or part by a centralcomputer. The score or rating may be calculated based on one or moremetrics that consider one or more of: (1) the number of transactionsconsummated by a party, (2) the ratio of consummated transactions topostings listed by a party, (3) feedback or scores provided by otherusers, (4) feedback or scores provided by adjudicators (e.g., asdescribed herein), (5) feedback or scores provided by human assistants(e.g., as described herein), and/or (5) any other metric or data point.

In one or more embodiments, pursuant to a “follow up” step as describedfurther herein, the central computer may receive, from a buyer and/orseller, a message (e.g., a feedback message) pertaining to a previouslyconsummated transaction so that the message may be subsequently reviewedby other parties during a “discovery” step. Such messages may containpictorial, textual and/or verbal data. For example, a prospective buyermay review audio (e.g., voicemail) messages left by previous buyers whohave transacted with a particular seller. This ability to audibly hearprior user experiences may allow the buyer to judge the sincerity andconviction with which each prior buyer describes his or her experience.The ability to audibly hear the psychosocial nuances and queues of aparticular prior buyer's feedback illustrates one advantage of thepresent invention over prior art systems for receiving and publishingtextual feedback about prior person-to-person transactions over anelectronic network.

In another example, a prospective buyer may review pictures submitted byprior buyers. Such pictures may be of items previously sold by aparticular seller. The prospective buyer may then evaluate how itemssold by a particular seller typically appear after they are shipped toor otherwise received by buyers. Further, in some embodiments, aprospective buyer may also review pictures of items as originally postedby the seller. The prospective buyer may then determine whether or notthe goods were shipped to prior buyers as advertised or promised by theseller, and based on the determination, the prospective buyer may forman opinion as to the trustworthiness of the particular seller.

Some embodiments allow for real-time references. In one or moreembodiments, a prospective buyer may select an option (e.g., from an IVRmenu; from an HTML page) to speak to a person who has previouslytransacted with a particular seller. Conversely, a seller may select anoption to speak with a person who has previously transacted with aparticular buyer. The central computer may receive such a selection andmay facilitate a synchronous communication session between the parties.In this manner, prospective buyers and sellers may question individualsabout potential counterparties' prior transactional conduct. Suchprospective buyers and sellers may be charged (e.g., through a charge toa phone bill) for such communications, and individuals who are called toprovide historic information may be compensated (e.g., through a creditto a phone bill).

In one or more embodiments, a central computer may facilitate aface-to-face meeting between a buyer and a seller. For example, a buyermay utilize the central computer to arrange for an inspection of an itema seller has posted for sale through the central computer. In one ormore embodiments, a central computer may provide a buyer and/or sellerwith driving directions to a seller and/or buyer's location (e.g.,residence). In one or more embodiments, a central computer may determinedriving directions by (1) determining a geographical position of a firstparty (e.g., a prospective buyer or seller), (2) determining ageographical position of a second party (e.g., a prospective buyer orseller). (3) retrieving geographical data (e.g., maps) from a database(e.g., such as a database maintained by a remote third party website,such as Mapquest.com), and/or (4) providing the geographical data to oneor both of the first and/or second party (e.g., transmitting a map to aprospective buyer's cell phone). In one or more embodiments, the centralcomputer may determine a geographical position of a first and/or secondparty by (1) determining a GPS coordinate of a device (e.g., a buyer'scell phone, a seller's cell phone); (2) determining position of a devicerelative to one or more cellular network communications towers (e.g.,through cell phone “triangulation” methods), (3) retrieving informationfrom a database (e.g., retrieving a seller's address from a database).

In one or more embodiments, during a face-to-face meeting between aprospective buyer and a seller, the prospective buyer and/or seller mayutilize a device (e.g., a cellular telephone) to request or otherwiseinitiate (e.g., through the central computer) a synchronouscommunication session with a human assistant (as described herein), whomay provide information or advice. For example, a buyer may contact ahuman assistant through a cellular phone by first transmitting a requestto speak with a human assistant to the central computer. The centralcomputer may the enable a synchronous communication link between thebuyer's cell phone and a human assistant's device. The buyer may thenuse the cellular phone to transmit pictures and/or video of a particularitem to the human assistant. The buyer may alternatively or additionallyspeak with the human assistant telephonically. The human assistant may,in turn, provide the buyer with (a) relevant questions to ask the seller(e.g., “has this bicycle ever been in an accident?”), (b) pricinginformation (e.g., “1987 Schwinn Fastbacks of similar conditiontypically sell for around $125”), and/or (c) any other information oradvice.

In one or more embodiments, a central computer (and/or an entityassociated therewith) may facilitate the consummation of a sale, asdescribed herein. For example, after a buyer identifies a posted item ofpotential interest pursuant to one or more shopping or browsing stepsdiscussed herein, and the buyer and/or seller complete one or morediscovery steps as discussed herein, the central controller mayfacilitate an exchange of payment from the buyer for the item(s) listedby the seller.

As discussed above, the central computer may facilitate a face-to-facemeeting of the buyer and the seller. As such, a face-to-face transactionmay be arranged where the buyer pays the seller in-person, and takespossession of the item(s) substantially instantaneously. As comparedwith prior art electronic networks for person-to-person sales of goods,the ability to consummate face-to-face transactions enabled by thepresent invention is advantageous in that it (1) eliminates shippingcosts, (2) eliminates the potential for damages due to shipping, (3)eliminates the burdens associated with returning shipped goods, permitssellers to accept cash, eliminating both risk associated with acceptingnon-cash payments and the time required to receive non-cash payments(e.g., the several days it takes for a check to clear), and (4) ensuressimultaneity of exchange (e.g., ensures that that the seller willreceive payment when he relinquishes possession of items; ensures thatthe buyer will receive the goods when he relinquishes payment).

In one or more embodiments, a buyer may arrange to pay a seller in oneor more ways, as described herein. As discussed, in one or moreembodiments, a buyer may pay a seller in cash. Further, in one or moreembodiments, a buyer may provide to the central computer a financialaccount identifier (e.g., checking account number, credit or debit cardnumber) or electronic currency identifier, so that the central computercan process payment in accordance with the provided identifier, as wouldbe apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Further, in one or moreembodiments, a buyer and seller may agree to swap or trade items.Further still, in one or more embodiments, the central computer mayallow a buyer to charge the cost of the transaction (e.g., the cost ofthe item and/or any applicable fees as described herein) to anestablished service account, such as they buyer's cellular telephoneaccount. For example, a buyer may utilize a user interface of hiscellular telephone to (a) select an item posted by a seller, and (b)select an option to purchase the item that initiates a charge againstthe buyer's account in an amount greater or equal to the purchase priceof the item. The central computer may receive such selections and debitthe buyer's account by the appropriate amount.

For such a payment option, the central computer and/or operator thereofmay charge the buyer and/or seller a flat fee and/or a percentage of thepurchase price. A buyer and/or seller may instruct the central computerto provide payment to the seller in one or more ways. In accordance withsuch instructions, in one or more embodiments, the central computerand/or operator thereof may (a) issue a check to the seller, (b) credita financial account associated with the seller (e.g., a credit or debitcard account, a checking account, a PayPal account), and/or (c) credit aservice account associated with the seller (e.g., the seller's cellularservice account). In one or more embodiments, a seller may be creditedin an alternate form of currency (e.g., trade credits acceptable only bythe central computer and/or the operator thereof).

In one or more embodiments, the central computer may facilitate theconsummation of a transaction by assisting the parties in the formationof a legally enforceable agreement or contract. For example, in one ormore embodiments, an IVR-based application may provide one or more“boilerplate” (i.e., standard) contract terms from which the parties mayselect and/or accept (e.g., through DTMF tone transmission; verbally).Exemplary types of standard terms and provisions may address or providefor method of payment, method of delivery, dispute resolution methodsand terms (including having disputes resolved by the central computer,an operator thereof, or a third party, as described further herein).

In one or more embodiments, the central computer may record any or allaspects of the formation or performance of a contract by the parties.Such recordings may provide material evidence for any ensuing disputes.In one or more embodiments, the central computer may record the parties'verbal representations, warranties, offers and/or acceptances. Forexample, a seller's 30-day money back guarantee, or an assertion that anitem is sold “as is” with no warranty, can be recorded and stored forfuture reference. Such recordings can be stored in accordance withcryptographic protocols discussed at length in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No.6,529,602 B1 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE SECURE STORAGE OFAUDIO SIGNALS, issued Mar. 4, 2003; and Applicants co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/183,359 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FORTHE SECURE STORAGE OF AUDIO SIGNALS (Attorney Docket No. 96-187-C2;filed Jul. 18, 2005); the entirety of which is incorporated herein forall purposes.

Also, in one or more embodiments, the fact of delivery and the conditionof delivered goods can be recorded by the buyer through the buyer'scamera phone and transmitted to the central computer for storage.

In one or more embodiments, the central computer (and/or an entityassociated therewith) performs and/or otherwise facilitates one or moreof the following types of functions. In one or more embodiments, afteran item is sold, a seller may instruct the central computer to “de-list”the item so that it is not advertised or searchable by other buyers. Inone or more embodiments, a central computer or operator thereof mayrequire the seller to so de-list an item. Optionally, sellers can beencouraged to de-list items by threat of financial penalty (e.g., aseller's account may be charged a penalty if an item is not de-listedwithin X days of a reported sale).

In one or more embodiments, a buyer may (e.g., with a camera phone)capture a picture of the shipped product and transmit the picture to theseller and/or the central system. In one or more embodiments, a centralcomputer or operator thereof may require the buyer to transmit such apicture (e.g., before the central controller will provide payment to aseller). Optionally, buyers can be encouraged to provide pictures ofshipped items by threat of financial penalty (e.g., a buyer's accountmay be charged a penalty if a picture of a shipped item is not providedto the central computer within X days of a seller reporting shipment).

In one or more embodiments, an aggrieved party may transmit a complaintto a central computer, an operator thereof and/or a third party (e.g., ahuman assistant). Thus, in one embodiment, a central controller receivesa complaint from an aggrieved party. According to various embodiments, acomplaint may (1) be treated in a conventional manner (e.g.,investigated by a customer service representative), (2) impact a ratingof a counterparty, and/or (3) initiate a dispute resolution process,described herein.

In one or more embodiments, a central computer, an operator thereofand/or a third party (e.g., a human assistant) may assist in theresolution of disputes between buyers and sellers. In one or moreembodiments, central computer, an operator thereof and/or a third party(e.g., a human assistant) may adjudicate disputes pursuant toagreed-upon procedural rules. Parties and/or adjudicators may haveaccess to evidence recorded as discussed herein (e.g., textual,pictorial and/or audio evidence including but not limited to contractualterms, verbal representations and warranties, evidence of the parties'performance or lack thereof, etc.).

In one or more embodiments, a central computer, an operator thereofand/or a third party (e.g., a human assistant serving in an adjudicatorycapacity) may institute one or more forms of recourse against an actualor alleged wrongdoer and/or in favor of an aggrieved party.

In one or more embodiments, the central computer and/or an operatorassociated therewith (e.g., a cellular service provider) may, inessence, claim and act upon a “priority lien” against sale proceeds, sothat phone charges are satisfied before a seller may realize saleproceeds. Thus, if a seller is delinquent in paying for phone service, acellular service provider may utilize sale proceeds to satisfy, in wholeor part, outstanding debts before the seller receives any such saleproceeds.

In one or more embodiments, the central computer and/or an operatorassociated therewith (e.g., a cellular service provider) may, in wholeor part, de-active or otherwise limit the functionality of a wrongdoer'scellular telephone or cellular account. For example, a wrongdoer'scellular phone service may be disabled temporarily (e.g., until debtsare paid; until an adjudication process is complete) or permanently.Alternatively or additionally, the central computer and/or an operatorassociated therewith (e.g., a cellular service provider) may de-listitems that a party has posted for sale, may prevent the purchase of anitem, may charge additional fees for services (e.g., higher paymentprocessing fees; higher per minute phone usage fees), or may alter aparty's ability to utilize services in any other manner.

Additional Embodiments

Some embodiments allow for or facilitate combinatorial selling or“virtual” partnerships. In one or more embodiments, a central computermay allow a first seller and a second seller to “link” to one another(e.g., through a visual user interface), so that (1) one seller mayanswer an inquiry (e.g., a phone call) directed to another seller, (2)sellers may share proceeds according to an agreement (e.g., equal rightsto proceeds), etc. In this manner, sellers with items that maysupplement or complement each other may create “virtual stores”showcasing the combined inventory. Such combined inventory may beaggregated in one posting and/or in several “linked” postings, so thatprospective buyers may readily browse the related items. Moreover,sellers knowledgeable in a particular area may be recruited by a sellerto answer sales inquires should the recruiting seller be unavailable(e.g., during work hours).

Some embodiments allow for combinatorial shopping. In one or moreembodiments, buyers may effectively shop in groups by notifying eachother of postings, by viewing the same postings (e.g., simultaneously orsubstantially simultaneously), and/or by conversing with one anotherverbally while viewing the same postings.

Some embodiments allow for shopping tour guides and/or for allowing auser to receive information about a shopping experience of another user.For example, in one or more embodiments, one or more users may view theitems that a given prospective shopper is viewing, eithersimultaneously, substantially simultaneously, or otherwise. Thus, acelebrity may shop for items on the network, and fans may watch thecelebrity's shopping experience.

In one or more embodiments, a prospective buyer may submit an offer tothe central controller, conditioned on the ability to purchase for asingle price two or more products posted by two or more prospectivesellers. The central computer or an operator or agent thereof maynegotiate with the two or more individual sellers in an effort to obtaincommitments to sell the underlying products for a total sum less than orequal to the buyer's offer price for the package or combination ofitems.

In one or more embodiments, sellers may obtain pricing guidance from ahuman assistant via the central computer, as described herein. Thus,sellers who are preparing for a yard sale or garage sale may utilize ahuman assistant to provide pricing guidance for a plurality of items ina single communications session. During the communications session, thehuman assistant may have access to a secondary market database thatstores pricing information for items within the seller's relevantgeographic area. Following the communications session, the humanassistant may provide (e.g., via email or postal mail) a data file thatcontains text that may be printed onto price tags or price sheets, sothat the seller may readily label the items with the suggested prices.

Some embodiments facilitate price discrimination among subscribers andnon-subscribers of a particular telephone service. In one or moreembodiments where a cellular service provider operates the centralcomputer, the central computer may be programmed to charge customers ofcompeting cellular carriers additional fees or higher prices for theservices described herein. Indeed, in one or more embodiments, thecentral computer may be programmed to prevent customers of competingcellular carriers from using services facilitated by the centralcomputer.

Some embodiments facilitate use of one or more online auction postingsystems. In some embodiments, a cell phone can be directly or indirectlyinterfaced with an online auction system (e.g., the eBay system). Inother words, embodiments are directed to using a device (e.g., a cameraphone) to post data to an auction system. As described herein, a devicesuch as a cellular telephone may be employed to capture and/or generatedata to be posted, such as images (e.g., photos of the item to be sold),video, text (e.g., a textual description of the item to be sold, termsof sale, seller information) which may be entered via a keypad of thedevice or converted from audio input (e.g., a verbal description of theitem to be sold) as described herein.

The data to be posted may be posted directly to the auction site. Forexample, the data to be posted may be transmitted to a server (e.g., aweb server) that operates the auction site or cooperates with a serverfor the auction site. The transmitted data may be formatted in a manneramenable to interpretation and/or processing. For example, the data maybe formatted to include “tags”, such as XML tags in accordance with apredetermined DTD. As is known, tags can serve to identify the typeand/or meaning of data. Tags may be used to indicate, e.g., photos ofthe item, the description of the item, information regarding the seller,a minimum bid price, shipping terms, and other information which theauction site may require or allow to be submitted by a seller. Inanother embodiment, the type and/or meaning of data may be inferred fromthe order it is transmitted (e.g., photos are transmitted first, then atextual description).

The data to be posted may be posted indirectly to the auction site. Forexample, the data to be posted may be transmitted, directly orindirectly, to a processing device, such as a server or other deviceoperable to process the data and render the data into a format which issuitable for receipt by the auction site. For example, in an embodimentwhere the auction site receives data from sellers via web pages (e.g.,one or more HTML forms), the processing device can receive the data topost (e.g., via a wireless telephone transmission, via the Internet) andarrange the received data in a known manner into one or more HTML POSTcommands to send an appropriate input stream (e.g., an input streamdefined by the HTML form).

Whether the data to be posted is posted directly or indirectly, theentirety of the data may be transmitted as substantially a singletransmission (e.g., in about the shortest time possible given theapplicable transmission rate). Alternatively, the data may betransmitted as a plurality of transmissions that are separated in time(e.g., by second, by minutes, by hours).

The user device (e.g., a cell phone, a personal computer) may performsome or all of the functions of the processing device. Additionally oralternatively, another device (e.g., a computer accessible via thewireless network of a cellular telephone) may perform some or all of thefunctions of the processing device. An internet-enabled user device(e.g., an Internet-enabled cell phone) could transmit data over theInternet, such as over the Internet to the preprocessor or to a serverof the auction site (e.g., one or more web servers). A user device(e.g., cell phone) which is not internet-enabled could transmit data via(1) placing a call to a predetermined telephone number (e.g., a “900”number for which a charge is applied), and (2) transmitting analog audiodata (e.g., a sequence DTMF tones) to that telephone number using apredetermined protocol (e.g., certain sequences of tones correspond tocertain numbers or other values of data). A device (e.g., a computeroperable to receive the audio data transmitted to the telephone number)receives the analog audio data and interprets the received audio dataaccording to the protocol, thereby yielding the data transmitted by theuser device.

In embodiments where a central computer is operated and maintained by acellular service provider, such a cellular service provider may enjoymany benefits. Such a provider has an installed base of cell phoneusers. Cellular service providers may market services enabled by thepresent invention to their existing customers. Also, cellular serviceproviders practicing one or more embodiments of the present inventionmay offer customers many ongoing reasons to continue as customers.Sellers are less likely to switch phone service providers if they haveitems up for sale on the network, have established buyer/seller ratings,etc. Thus, the present invention provides cell phone providers with away to regain the “stickiness” they lost with the number portabilitylegislation, but tried to retain through penalty-backed serviceagreements.

Also, a practicing cellular service provider may leverage its existingbilling infrastructure, which may readily facilitate micro-payments andsmall-value transactions. The ability of some of the describedembodiments to permit a rich, multimedia pre-purchase “discovery”experience would likely reduce the possibility of a dispute betweencounterparties, making such a system easier to administrate than priorart electronic networks for the sale of used items between consumers.

A cellular provider offering services enabled by the present inventionmay grow revenues from existing telephone services through the ensuingphone usage. For example, as buyers and sellers talk during apre-purchase “negotiation” step as described herein, cellular providersmay earn revenues from conversations that otherwise may not have beeninitiated. Indeed, in some embodiments, even if customers circumvent thecentral computer during a consummation phase, the cellular provider maystill earn revenue from phone conversations between parties. Moreover,cellular providers may grow revenues received through the additionaldata transfer and data storage encouraged by the present invention.

What we claim is:
 1. A method as implemented by a computer systemincluding one or more computing devices running executable instructions,the method comprising: receiving, at the one or more computing devicesover a network connection with a device associated with a buyer, audioinformation describing an item for purchase; analyzing, at the one ormore computing devices, the audio information to identify at least onecorresponding item category related to the item for purchase; andtransmitting, from the one or more computing devices over the networkconnection with the device, at least one selected from the group of apicture, audio data, and textual information of at least one item forsale associated with the identified at least one corresponding itemcategory to be provided for display to the buyer on a display of thedevice.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, at the one or more computing devices over anetwork connection with the device associated with the buyer, a pictureof the item for purchase; and comparing the received picture to storedpictures associated with the identified at least one corresponding itemcategory using artificial intelligence running on the one or morecomputing devices.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,wherein the stored pictures correspond to the at least one item forsale.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the atleast one selected from the group of the picture, the audio data, andthe textual information of the at least one item for sale associatedwith the identified at least one corresponding item category istransmitted upon determining that the received picture of the item forpurchase matches the at least one item for sale based on the comparing.5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the deviceassociated with the buyer is a mobile device.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the picture and thetextual information of the at least one item for sale is viewable by thebuyer on a screen of the mobile device, and wherein the audioinformation of the at least one item for sale is audible to the buyer onan audio speaker of the mobile device.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein analyzing the audio information to identifythe at least one corresponding item category related to the item forpurchase comprises: converting the audio information to text, andcomparing the text to categorized text associated with the at least onecorresponding item category to identify the at least one correspondingitem category related to the text.
 8. An apparatus comprising: anon-transitory memory storing instructions; and one or more hardwareprocessors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to readthe instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system toperform operations comprising: receiving, over a network connection witha device associated with a buyer, audio information describing an itemfor purchase; analyzing the audio information to identify at least onecorresponding item category related to the item for purchase; andtransmitting, over the network connection with the device, at least oneselected from the group of a picture, audio data, and textualinformation of at least one item for sale associated with the identifiedat least one corresponding item category to be provided for display tothe buyer on a display of the device.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8,wherein the operations further comprise: receiving, at the one or morecomputing devices over a network connection with the device associatedwith the buyer, a picture of the item for purchase; and comparing thereceived picture to stored pictures associated with the identified atleast one corresponding item category using artificial intelligencerunning on the one or more computing devices.
 10. The apparatus of claim9, wherein the stored pictures correspond to the at least one item forsale.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one selectedfrom the group of the picture, the audio data, and the textualinformation of the at least one item for sale associated with theidentified at least one corresponding item category is transmitted upondetermining that the received picture of the item for purchase matchesthe at least one item for sale based on the comparing.
 12. The apparatusof claim 8, wherein the device associated with the buyer is a mobiledevice.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the picture and thetextual information of the at least one item for sale is viewable by thebuyer on a screen of the mobile device, and wherein the audioinformation of the at least one item for sale is audible to the buyer onan audio speaker of the mobile device.
 14. The apparatus of claim 8,wherein the operations for analyzing the audio information to identifythe at least one corresponding item category related to the item forpurchase comprise: converting the audio information to text, andcomparing the text to categorized text associated with the at least onecorresponding item category to identify the at least one correspondingitem category related to the text.
 15. A non-transitory machine-readablemedium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable tocause performance of operations comprising: receiving, at the one ormore computing devices over a network connection with a deviceassociated with a buyer, audio information describing an item forpurchase; analyzing, at the one or more computing devices, the audioinformation to identify at least one corresponding item category relatedto the item for purchase; and transmitting, from the one or morecomputing devices over the network connection with the device, at leastone selected from the group of a picture, audio data, and textualinformation of at least one item for sale associated with the identifiedat least one corresponding item category to be provided for display tothe buyer on a display of the device.
 16. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving, at the one or more computing devices over a networkconnection with the device associated with the buyer, a picture of theitem for purchase; and comparing the received picture to stored picturesassociated with the identified at least one corresponding item categoryusing artificial intelligence running on the one or more computingdevices, wherein the stored pictures correspond to the at least one itemfor sale.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the at least one selected from the group of thepicture, the audio data, and the textual information of the at least oneitem for sale associated with the identified at least one correspondingitem category is transmitted upon determining that the received pictureof the item for purchase matches the at least one item for sale based onthe comparing.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim15, wherein the device associated with the buyer is a mobile device. 19.The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein thepicture and the textual information of the at least one item for sale isviewable by the buyer on a screen of the mobile device, and wherein theaudio information of the at least one item for sale is audible to thebuyer on an audio speaker of the mobile device.
 20. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations foranalyzing the audio information to identify the at least onecorresponding item category related to the item for purchase comprise:converting the audio information to text, and comparing the text tocategorized text associated with the at least one corresponding itemcategory to identify the at least one corresponding item categoryrelated to the text.